JBU stunned by Lady Cavs

Siloam Springs, Ark. (January 16, 2010) - Despite a season high 27 points from junior Ashley Taylor, the John Brown women’s basketball team fell 76-73 to St. Gregory’s (Okla.) on Saturday afternoon in Sooner Athletic Conference play in Murray Sells.

The loss drops the Lady Golden Eagles to 7-11 overall and 3-7 in conference action.

Taylor went 9-of-17 from the floor and was 9-of-11 from the free throw line.

Freshman Jessica Berlin of Siloam Springs added 16 points, three assists, and two steals for the Lady Eagles, and junior Katie Mangels had 14.

For SGU (7-10, 2-7), Leticia Silva matched Taylor with 27 of her own, while Carletta Hernandez had 16.

After leading by four points in the opening minutes, JBU allowed the Cavaliers to go up by as many as 12 points before closing the half out on a 19-7 run to tie things up at 37 going into the break.

In the second period, SGU opened up with a 7-2 run to go ahead by five and pushed their lead to as many as nine before the Eagles began clawing their way back into it.

With 3:28 left in the game, Mangels gave JBU their first and largest lead of the period after scoring back to back buckets for the 67-63 lead.

The Lady Cavs responded with a 4-0 run and tied things up at 67 after buckets from Silva and Hernandez on their next two trips up the floor.

After trading points over the next few possessions, Emily Ortiz put the Lady Eagles ahead by two, 73-71, with 22 seconds left.

JBU pressured the ball on the defensive end, but Silva managed to get open and bury a deep dagger to give SGU a one point lead with 11 seconds left.

JBU quickly called timeout to draw up a play, but couldn’t execute on the inbound and turned the ball over as SGU’s Jalisa Howard stole the pass and sealed the deal with a lay-in as time expired.

For the game, JBU shot 36.9 percent (24-65) from the floor while giving up 54.2 percent (26-48) to SGU. SGU got 16 points of the bench to only four from JBU. SGU also out rebounded JBU 34-31.

Up next for the Lady Golden Eagles is a Thursday night matchup against Science & Arts of Okla. Game time is set for 6 p.m. in Murray Sells.